Join COCO as we welcome Conservation X Labs and some of their Fire Grand Challenge awardees who are pioneering innovative approaches to wildfire prevention and recovery. As climate change, habitat degradation, and unsustainable land use contribute to increasingly frequent and destructive wildfires, the Fire Grand Challenge seeks to reimagine our relationship with fire. This global initiative supports bold, cross-disciplinary ideas that combine advanced technology with Indigenous, rural, and local knowledge to better manage and recover from wildfire events.

In this session, we’ll hear from two exciting projects. Envisioning Labs (British Columbia, Canada) and the San Juan Islands Conservation District (Washington, USA) are developing a wildfire detection and suppression system specifically designed for smoldering ground fires in peat and duff soils. Their innovative approach uses a suite of gas, particulate matter, temperature and camera sensors for early detection and suppresses fires with targeted injections of liquid carbon dioxide. We’ll also hear from Flash Forest (Ontario, Canada) and the Grand County Wildfire Council (Colorado, USA), who are partnering to use AI-powered drones to rapidly reforest fire-damaged areas by deploying seed pods from the air—an effort that blends ecological restoration with cutting-edge automation.

Join us to explore how these visionary teams are combining innovation, science, and community-based wisdom to build more resilient landscapes and forge a new path forward in wildfire management.